3 Revelations

1. Gringos are weird.

2. Chilean colleges are Hollywood's depiction of high school

3. Living with an 8 year old is awesome!

Elaborations on the earlier points:

1. On Sunday I went to support a friend at an Ultimate Frisbee game. I explained to my host family that I was going to a frisbee game. My host mom asked, "Frisbees? Like what you throw to a dog?" I tried to explain that it's a sport with teams. She asked, "So gringos stand in a circle and just toss a disk made for dogs?" I don't think Chileans will give up football for frisbee anytime soon.

2. In college, everyone still lives with their parents so it's a lot like high school. But there's more to it than that. It's like Hollywood's depiction of high school because everyone is 18-24 and now that the weather's warm there's music in the courtyard every day during lunch. But it's loud popular music or live bands. This was my lunch hour yesterday:

3. Living with an 8 year old is awesome! Panchi got halloween candy yesterday. Today we tried it out after dinner. It's called "Pinta Lengua" literally Paints Tongue. This is what it did to my tongue:

I get to see Mom and Aunt Dee tomorrow after class tomorrow. I'm really excited!!!!!

Bueno Bye!

Punta Arenas

The final leg of the journey was Punta Arenas nestled into the Straight of Magellan (named for Ferdinand Magellan who was the first explorer to round the tip of South America in 1520). Naturally the weather was colder at the tip of the continent, but the wind was what really did us gringos in. It's common for it to be around 80 miles per hour as it's the place where the currents/winds from the Atlantic and Pacific meet. Brrrr.

A shipwreck that was left there to serve as a monument to all of those who have perished in the Straight of Magellan:

The town of Punta Arenas. There can't be any tall buildings because of the wind:

The location on this pole closest to Punta Arenas is Antarctica:

The only living beings with enough layers to enjoy Punta Arenas are sheep. I was trying to take some pointers:

No really, even the sheep herder was as miserably cold as I was:

In Punta Arenas there is a beautiful old cemetery with GIGANTIC mausoleums:

The cemetery had huge rows of trees throughout to help cut down on the wind...it looked a little like Hogwarts during the Triwizard Tournament maze:

Many of the tombstones were very creative like this one:

The statue tribute to Magellan in the town square:

That's all for now! Bueno Bye!!

I'm on a boat!

Thus began the second large part of our journey... we got to spend a whole day on a boat cruising through glaciers. There were so many beautiful sights that this one is going to be a long one. I apologize in advance.

We were up and at 'em pretty early, but this meant we got to enjoy the latter part of the sunrise:

As the sun parted through the clouds it created a cool affect on the mountains:

The view from the boat:

The view from the boat:

Birds that are from the same class as penguins:

A family of sea lions:

Journey to Antartica:

The Grey Glacier:

The Grey Glacier and me:

ICE!

The Serrano Glacier ( We hopped out to get closer to this one. This was my favorite spot of the entire trip. It was in this peaceful lagoon of melted glacier water. It was hard to make myself leave despite the cold.):

Me and the Serrano Glacier:

We got back on the boat for a bit and then hopped out again for lunch (lamb):

Me with the lamb after it had been carved up:

Sometimes Chile looks a bit like what I imagine Scotland looks like:

You're now 2/3 the way done with the trip recap. Way to be a trooper.

Bueno Bye!

Torres Del Paine

I'm back from my excursion to the south. There were three main parts to the trip:

1. A tour of Torres Del Paine National Park (Named after the tower shaped mountains)
2. A boat cruise through glaciers
3. Punta Arenas, a small town nestled into the Straight of Magellan

There was such magnificent natural beauty that I was blown away. (I was also blown away by the 80 mile per hour winds that can accumulate at Chile's Southern tip.) My eyes literally felt tired by the end of the trip from trying to soak up as much as possible. I'm breaking up the trip into 3 parts so that I don't overwhelm with pictures.

The view when we first entered the park:

A pack of alpacas beneath the mountains from which the park gets its name:

Baywatch: winter wear edition:

The towers:

Again, but closer this time:

A waterfall created by melting snow:

My favorite spot in the park, we also got to enjoy lunch while staring at this view:

A fox who wanted to join us for lunch:

A few glaciers floating in one of the many lakes throughout the park:

The wind was so strong that you could lean back and it would support your entire body weight:

That concludes our trip to Torres Del Paine. Bueno Bye!

I'm off!

For the next 6 days I will be in Torres del Paine, a small town in the southern tip of Chile. I thought I'd get some good bonding in with the glaciers.

I know how greatly this saddens you, so to attempt to ease your pain I will share with you 2 of my discoveries last night:

1. Vino Navegado: It's heated red wine with sugar and orange slices. It's delicious and warms you up like apple cider. We ordered some last night because Spring in Chile is just like Spring in the US, one day you're sweating and the next day you've pulled out your winter coat again.
2. The painting "Hollywood Last Supper." It was hanging in the restaurant last night and I really enjoyed it:

Bueno Bye for a few days!

Women in Chile

I've been working at the "Institute of the Woman" for three weeks now. I spend my Tuesdays and Thursdays doing various activities. Some of it is grunt work, which would be boring in the US but here it's fairly intellectually stimulating as it's all in a different language. The other week I also helped out at a leadership workshop for impoverished middle school age kids who have government scholarships to help them stay in school.

Things I have learned about women and Chile:

• Until 1994 it was legal to abuse your spouse as it was considered a private matter.
• Divorce was only legalized in 2004 in chile.
• A woman's income and the number of children she has DIRECTLY correlate to her level of education. I saw this pattern while putting survey information into a database.
• The Chilean government provides scholarship to poor children if they stay in school so they won't have to drop and get a job.

Things Chile has learned about me:

• I am royal. Quinn, when pronounced by a Spanish speaker is pronounced Queen. In Spanish, Queen is said reina. I am now referred to in the office as Reinita, or little Queen.
• I am looking for a husband. My first week at work I was wrapping up the novel American Wife and they all asked if I was studying.

Bueno Bye from her royal highness!

Globalization

There are a number of people on either side of the globalization debate. Whether it is a good thing or a bad thing, it's here to stay. Here is a recap of things that occurred last night during dinner with my family:

• We listened to the Rhianna song, Umbrella
• We then discussed the incident with Chris Brown and how he essentially got away unscathed
• We listened to a song by a Spanish artist
• During this song my host dad pondered aloud as to where Ricky Martin was now a days
• We talked about Facebook
• A disappointed Panchi said she wasn't friends with her dad on Facebook because he hadn't accepted her friend request yet.
• Panchi and I discussed the value of the Facebook game Farmville.
• We all took napkins and competed in an origami competition, which my host mom won with her swan
• We wrapped up dinner with a serious conversation of why Chip and Dale are the best Disney characters

Bueno Bye!

Halfway there

Today marks the halfway point of my time here. I could be super eloquent and discuss my feelings, BUT I have a quiz tomorrow. Instead I'll change my blog layout, leave you with a song that's stuck in my head, and a share a befitting quote.

The song, "First Person" by Jenny Owen Youngs (She toured with Jukebox the Ghost this past summer.)

The quote:

“We breathe in our first language and swim in our second." ~Adam Gopnik

For now I'll just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.

Bueno Bye!

Mendoza, Argentina

This past weekend we all headed to Mendoza, Argentina to enjoy the fruits of a three day weekend. Friday, after classes we hopped on a bus and were off.

Tara demonstrating the joy of our "semi cama" bus seats:

We got to customs around 2 AM and wizzed through the process in just under an hour. We've just been cleared to enter Argentina:

We arrived around 5 AM. Then checked into the hostel, but waited in the lobby as our rooms weren't ready yet. We spent the time to figure out our plans for the weekend. We dropped our things off in our rooms and went on a bike tour of vineyards:

There was even a wine making museum at one of them (watch out Nick!):

Giant barrels filled with aging wine:

Climbing!

One of the wineries also made delicious liquors that we were able to sample. There was one that was chocolate mint. I'm not sure I've ever tasted anything more delicious. It was photo worthy:

The second day was a little slower. We decided to do a package deal and go rafting, horseback riding, and repelling.

We began with horseback riding. My horse's name was Pequeño (little):

You know, just riding through the foothills of the Andes:

Me and Caitlin in our wetsuits before rafting. For fear of losing the camera, there are no actual pictures of us rafting:

The repelling! Needless to say, I didn't tell my mom about this before it happened.

Our final day in Mendoza was spent sleeping in a bit and then some homework in a park until we hopped on the bus. The drive through the Andes was breathtaking:

But because it was the end of a holiday weekend, we were stuck in customs for 4 hours. This did mean that we got to watch a beautiful sunset:

Unfortunately, it also meant there was time for homework:

With that lovely image,

Bueno Bye!